The rapid acceptance and expansion of the Internet and mobile communications has led to consumers demanding greater functionality from their mobile nodes, such as personal computers, personal digital assistants, telephones, and the like. In particular, consumers want the ability to move from one network access point to another on the same or different networks without disrupting communication connectivity.
Newer Internet Protocols (IPs), such as IPv6, support such functionality by allowing a mobile node to move from one wireless access point or base station to another without disrupting communications. However, each mobile node must be provided with a home IP address. Currently, service providers must manually configure static home IP addresses for the mobile nodes of their millions of subscribers. This provisioning process is very cumbersome, time consuming, and expensive. Accordingly, there is a need for the ability to dynamically allocate and use home IP addresses for mobile nodes in an efficient and cost-effective manner, including when the mobile node is roaming in a foreign network.